Big Shot Grip

[tipiguy]

I have read the Big Shot grips actually help shooting a pistol offhand.  Why doesn't anyone make these for sale?  Where can you find one to purchase?  How much should I expect to pay?

Thanks.
Tipiguy

[Ladobe]

The sticky I did above some time ago about the Fajen TC stocks offers quite a bit of info on them (although somehow I lost the pictures).   While they do help with a push/pull grip offhand, they are awkward and most folks considered them and their "banana" forends ugly as sin (me included).   That's probably why nobody (as far as I know) ever took them up after Fajen sold out (and the new owners did not continue to make them).    As the supply dwindled during the years after the Fajen's stopped being made the prices could go quite high if the buyer wanted one bad enough.   Its been some years, but it seems like I sold my last Big Grip for around $200, and I didn't have a matching forend for it.   Even of higher value is the laminated stocks with the same color schemes that Fajen made for the Remington XP-100 Mid Grip Specialty Pistols.   Sold a few of them since Fajen stopped making them (still have one) and got about twice as much for the last one as what i got for the Big Grip.

[tipiguy]

Ladobe,

I have read your post and seen the pictures over the years.  I must be strange as I really like the grip.  I could take or leave the forend but the grip is cool.  $200+ is a lot of money for a grip.  I guess I will need to think about that more.  Since you sold all of your grips I assume you didn't think it was worth it?

Tipiguy

[Ladobe]

While I was a very long time customer of the original Fajen before it was sold, I absoluted hated the so called "banana" forend style and told them so when they came out with it.     Liked their other grip styles and butt stocks for the Contenders, just not these forends.

I didn't care for the Big Shot grips in appearance or use, and didn't feel that they gave me any advantage at all to the long time offhand handgun techniques I'd already learned for many years of handgun hunting.     Maybe if that's what a person learned with they'd be OK.   So no, I didn't use them much and they sat in a box in my reloading room for years until I got tired of looking at them and sold them.   

[P.A. Myers]

 A two-handed grip on a contender is difficult. If I use a two-handed grip the same as gripping a big S&W I get stabbed by the trigger guard.  I think the 'big shot' meant to make your other hand functional. It also controls rocking so you dont get stabbed  by the hammer.  I really dont use mine for shooting, but often put them on for display. I think they look quite impressive.  The laminates look good and the finish is perfect. I am always in the market for Fajen products. The Pacmayer decelerator grips work well but look cheap and ugly [to me].

Cost? $100 to $200. Contender stuff is hot right now. I was bidding on a conventional Fajen grip and forend on fleabay and quit at $145.

[Ladobe]

PA -

You probably know (so this is for those that don't) that the purposed of Fajens design with the Big Shot was to be able to use a push-pull two-handed hold on the Contenders.   It does stabilize some, but its awkward, at least until you get used to it.   I'd bet it helped some folks, especially those new to handuns, but it was just too different for some of us old handgun hunters to switch to.   I was just much more comfortable two-handed with the other grip methods that I had used on Contenders for years (starting about 43 years ago to be exact).  Fajen did a great job of finishing them as you suggested, and when they said finished drop-in you got a finished drop-in that fit perfectly and was well finished - not a stock that you had to tweek to fit or fix finish blems on.   I probably shouldn't mention Richards Never-Fit or Boyds Might-fit since some folks like their stocks.  LOL   IMO, Fajen were by far the best mostly "duplicator" stock maker in this country, and better than any that have come after the family sold it.   They were a great company to deal with too.   You could get the family on the phone and that was a hoot (like talking to old George at Herter's was).   I used a lot of their rifle stocks over the years to doll up factory firearms before I could afford custom stocks and firearms, so a lot of their rifle stocks passed through my safes as well as XP-100 and TC Contender sets. 

As much as I " thought" I knew about Fajen stocks, I was corrected some time back on a custom Sako L461 222 Rem Vixen I have, that because of a design that resembles the Fajen Thumbhole Sporter, cut checkering and finish I thought it was a Vixen/Vixen Deluxe that somebody had the premium barrel put on, had he action tuned and added a Fajen near exhibition grade stock to.   A couple of far more knowledgeable Sako collectors than me told me it has a pretty rare Sako custom shop stock instead, and that it added greatly to its value.   I was fine with it just having a nice Fajen stock myself.

Still have an old Fajen catalog that's fun to leaf through sometimes out in my storage garages someplace, if for no other reason than to remember old times and what a great family they were to do business with.
L.

 

[gman628]

I thought I'd be able to help you, but you'll have to try them later.  I know they sell them finished and unfinished, but seems to be a bit of a back log and won't let you view their pictures.

http://www.gunstocksinc.com/web_pages/Thompson-Center-Stocks.htm

[tipiguy]

Thanks.  I got an e-mail from them.  They must be custom ordered and are $225 for the grip/forend and $275 in laminate.  They then need to be finished by the purchaser.

I appreciate the info.

Tipiguy

[Crubear]

I have a set made by GSI, the grip and forend they made correctly turned out nice. Flash makes it look orange.

http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/yy10/Crubear/DSC05023.jpg

The forend they didn't do right (off center, partially shaped) and they wouldn't fix it (caveat, they sat in a box for a year or two). The response was very terse with no recourse. My expectation was that they'd at least take it back and finish the shaping. Before I sold off my Contenders I was trying to figure out how I was going to cut the bad banana shape and have something that looked as good as the rest.